Apparatus for guiding cloth.



I G. w. FRENCH, JR. APPARATUS FOR GUIDING CLOTH. APPL CATION FILED SEPT. B. 1914.

1,268,956. A Patented June 11, 1918;

v V W 17'7'0HNEYS GEORGE W. FRENCH, JR., F DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR GUIDING CLOTH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1918.

Application filed September 8, 1914. Serial No. 860,539.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

web of cloth which is passed into a machine Be it known that I, GEORGE W. FRENGH, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and resident of Danvers in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Guiding Cloth, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a device for guiding cloth in its passage to machines which are used forperforming various operations upon the cloth in finishing the same. It is necessary when feeding cloth to such machines to feed it without wrinkles and in the proper direction and location. The

object of my present invention is to provide a guiding and centering apparatus for acting upon cloth in the manner indicated, which is automatic in action and is controlled wholly by mechanical controlling means. The particlar means or apparatus in which I have embodied my invention is fully described in the following specification and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown diagrammatically the elements ofmechanisms wherein I have embodied my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a web of cloth and of the apparatus in which the invention is embodied.

Fig. 3is aside elevation of the apparatus.

Figs. 4, 5, and 6, are respectively, a plan view, a side elevation, and a front elevation of a modified embodiment of the invention.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in both figures.

Referring to the drawings a represents a by which 0 erations are to be performed on the cloth, rom some container on, or in, which the cloth has been held. material to my invention what the nature of the machine may be to which the cloth passes nor what the container may be from which the cloth is taken. Such container may be a roll on which the cloth is wound, or a box or chamber in which the cloth has been laid and plaited, or it may be of any other character. The only point which is material to my invention is that, in passing from the container to the machine it is necessary that the cloth be guided with re It is not spect to its position laterally and I have provided a simple mechanical means for so guiding the cloth. I have not illustrated the container from, or the machine to, which the cloth passes, or any part thereof, any further than to indicate at b, b and c, '0 in Fig. 3 two pairs of complemental feed rolls by which the cloth is propelled, and between which it is held in an extendedcondition.

The following described devices and mechanisms constitute my invention. The cloth passes between complemental guiding rolls d, e of which there is a set adjacent to each edge of the cloth web. The rolls of and c of each set or pair preferabl have their axes parallel to one another an set at other than right angles to the length of the cloth. These rolls are turned by the friction of the cloth passing in contact with them, and

travels that those points of the rolls which are in contact with the cloth travel in a di rection toward the adjacent edge of the cloth. The relation of the rolls to the cloth may be otherwise expressed by sayin that.

the rolls are inclined inwardly an for wardly from the edges of the cloth, having respect to the direction of travel of the cloth. The result of this arrangement is that the rolls tend to pull one edge of the cloth away from the other edge, and thereby to hold the cloth smooth and prevent the formation of longitudinal wrinkles.

The lower roll (6) of each pair is movably mounted so that it may be withdrawn from the cloth and may cease to exert pressure thereon under certain conditions, hereinafter described. To this end the pivot stud f of said roll 6 (see Fig. 2) is pivoted to the supporting frame at the point 9, to turn about an axis substantially parallel to the path in which the cloth travels, and is provided with or connected to a downwardly extending arm h which bears against a cam Said cam is here shown as being arranged in a horizontal plane and mounted to rotate about a vertical axis, although it may evidently be arranged in any other position in which it may per-form the duties hereinafter set forth. It preferably has a number of projections and depressions alternating with one another as shown in Fig. 1. Actuating. means are provided for appl ing force tending to rotate the cann Dne orm or device last described is duplicated at each edge of the cloth web in the same way that the device of Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is duplicated, as shown in Fig. 1.

The operation of this device may now be understood. When the cloth web is displaced too far to one side or the other so that it shifts the feeler p atthe side toward which it is displaced, such feeler engages the clutch a with the clutch 00, causing the cam z" to, be rotated until the shoulder t passes the contact toe h. Then the roll 6 drops and releases the cloth, which is free to be shifted in the opposite direction by the guiding rolls at the opposite edge of the web. The clutch members as and 2 then cease to rotate because, with the pressure of roll 0 removed, the friction of the cloth on the roll cl is insufficient to turn such roll,

: point it, as described, the weight w is carried just beyond a position above the axis of shaft 8, so that it tends to fall into the normal position. falling, however, by a pin 5, which projects from the collar 3 into the path of the Weight when clutch 2 is engaged with the clutch w. Now when the cloth recedes, it is followed by the feeler 7), acted on by spring 9, until the cloth reaches its normal middle position, when the clutch 2 has been so far withdrawn as to disengage the clutch a: and release the weight w. Then the weight is allowed to fall and turn the cam 2" far enough to bring the roll 6 into engagement with the cloth, whereupon the rolls resume their normal function of guiding the cloth and holding it smooth.

It will be seen that the mechanism which I have provided for accomplishingthe effect above described is entirely mechanical and that it is simple and eflicient. I do not by any means limit the invention to the particular forms of mechanism here shown as I consider that any apparatus however constructed in'which cam means, or any other means corresponding to the terms of the claims, are employed for making the guide rolls alternately operative and inoperative under the control of a mechanical actuator and of a feeler controlled by the cloth is within the scope of my invention. In explanation of the terms horizontal and vertical herein used, 1t should be understood that these terms are not absolute but It is restrained from thus tical, but the mechanism and the principles of its operation will be the same if the cloth were arranged in any other plane and traveled ,in anyother direction. Consequently the term. horizontal may be defined as meaning in or parallel to the plane of the cloth or to the direction of travel of the cloth, and vertical may be defined as perpendicular to such plane or such direction.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An pparatus for guiding cloth comprising guide rolls at an inclination to the direction of travel of the cloth and arranged to grasp the cloth between them, a cam arranged to act upon one of said rolls and operative according to its position to place the said roll against the cloth and away from the same respectively, an actuator tending constantly to move said cam, a feeler engaging the edge of the cloth, and an escape mechanism operated by said feeler and constructed to permit and limit actuation of the cam upon each operation to an extent such as to bring said roll from one of said positions to the other.

2. .Inan apparatus for feeding and guiding cloth, the combination with pairs of rolls through which the cloth passes, one of the rolls of each pair being capable of withdravval from the cloth, a cam arranged to act'on said roll and shift the same from operative to inoperative position and the reverse, a potentially operative actuator for said cam, and an escape mechanism controlled as to its operation by displacement of the cloth constructed and arranged to permit, at each operation thereof, the displacement of said roll from one of its extreme positions to the other.

3. In an apparatus for feeding and guiding cloth the combination of a pair of rolls between which the cloth passes arranged at an inclination to the line of travel of the cloth, a feeler bearing against an edge of the cloth, and movable in consequence of lateral displacement of such edge and mechanical means controlled. by said feeler when the latter moves in one direction for causing displacement of one of said rolls from contact with the cloth, and for causing return of said roll against the cloth when the feeler is moved in the opposite direction.

4:. An apparatus for guiding cloth comprising complemental pressure rolls having their axes parallel, one of said rolls being movable toward and away from the other, a cam having alternating protuberanccs and depressions for so moving said roll, a potentially active actuator forsaid cam, an escape device for said cam constructed to permit a step by step rotation of the cam in such relation as to'bring the protuberant and depressed portions thereof alternately into action upon the roll, and a feeler arranged to engage the edge of a Web of cloth pass-' ing through said rolls for controlling said escape device.

5. In an apparatus for feeding and guiding cloth, the combination of complement-a1 for operating said escape mechanism accord= ing to the lateral position of the cloth.

6. In an. apparatus for feeding and guiding cloth, the combination of complementah 210x rolls gripping the edge portion of the cloth and having their axes inclined to the direction: of travel of thepcloth, one of said rolls being movable away from the other, a device for converting rotary into reciprocating motion arranged to act on said movable roll,v

' and constructed to occupy different positions, in one of which it causes the said movableroll tobear on the cloth, and in another ofWhich-it causes removal of said roll from the cloth, an ctuator tending to rotate'said' device, and an escape mechanism for permittmg l1m1ted movements of said actuator sufiicient to cause rotation of said device from one into another of its different positions.

7.- In anapparatus for feeding and guid ing cloth, the combination of complementah rolls gripplng'the edge portion of the clothand having their axes inclined to thedirec tion of travel of the'cloth, one ofsaid rolls beingmovable away from the other, a rotary device arranged to act on said movable roll, rotatable into different positions and constructed to cause said roll to bear on the cloth or to be removedtherefrom according to its position, andan intermittently operating actuator controlled by the lateral position ofthe cloth for rotating said-device from one to another of itspositions.

S. In an apparatus for feeding and guiding cloth", the combination of complemental guiding rolls gripping the'edge portion of the cloth, one of which is movable toward and away hom the surface of the cloth against which it is arranged to act, a cam for controlling such movements of said movable roll, and means controlled by shifting the cloth transversely of its direction of normal motion, for causing actuation of said cam.

9. In a cloth giiid 'ing apparatus the combination with gripping guiding rolls,- one of which is removablefrom' the path in Which the cloth travels, a rotatably movable device acting upon said roll to hold the latter against the cloth when in: one of its positions,

and constructed so as to permit Withdrawal of the roll when in another position, impelling means tending to move said device from one position to another, and a feeler adapted to be" engaged by the cloth and to be shifted thereby for enabling said means to become operative" when the cloth occupies acertaln position.

' 10; In a cloth guiding apparatus complemental guiding rolls between which the cloth is passed, one of said rolls being movable toward and away from the cloth and being constantly urged by gravity away from the cloth, a rotatable cam arranged to act on said roll and constructed to hold said roll against the cloth when in one of its positions, and topermlt' Withdrawal of the roll when in another position, and means controlled in its operation by the position of the traveling cloth for causing said cam to shift frorrr one to another of its said positions.

1'1. 111 a cloth guiding apparatus comple mental cloth-engaging and guiding rolls, one of which is movable away from the cloth and is constantly" urged by gravity away from the cloth, a rotatable device'for acting upon said roll. constructed so as when in' one position to permit such Withdrawal" of the movable roll' and When in another position to put said roll into engagement With the cloth, constantly acting impelling means teding tomove said device from one of said aforesaidpositionstothe other, anda feeler device engaging and moved by the cloth for controlling the operation of said means.

In" testimony whereof I have affiXed' my signature, inprese'nce of two Witnesses;

GEORGE W. FRENCH, JR.- Witnesse's ARTHUR I-Ii BR'oWN, P. W. Pnzzmri:

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Washington, m or" 

